MRS. RUFF

Mrs. Ruff, a beagle hound
was short and rather round
and belonged to a young man called Benjy Michael.
She was quite sound, mentally,
but was deemed an oddity
because she liked to ride a monocycle.

She would ride it here and there
with her paws up in the air -
some would say she did it just for show
and they would watch with awe
as she'd stand up on one paw
in the saddle, monocycling in the snow.

One day she came-a-cropper
and collided with a shopper
crashing, legs akimbo, to the ground,
but she remained polite
when asked "are you all right?"
The shopper smiled and a new friend was found.

They would cycle off to Harrods
to take tea with several Arabs,
where they caught the eye of international press.
"Who" they speculated
"is this woman, celebrated
and this monocycling beagle in a dress?"

Thus they made the front page news
and did TV interviews,
Mrs. Ruff was a pin-up at Battersea,*
she got discounts at the vet
and went on the Internet
as a barking-mad cyber celebrity.

Remembered to this day,
though she's long since passed away,
as a beagle of talent beyond compare,
a reminder: if we choose
we have got nothing to lose
- -
we all can be as different as we dare.

© Sara L. Russell